Container



March 27, 1945. c. H. BARR CONTAINER Filed Nov. 24, 1941 INVENTORCuff/and H 84/7 BY M, M,

ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 27, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,372,352 ICONTAINER Courtland H. Barr, Glenolden, Pa., asslgnor to Sharp dz Dohme,Incorporated, Philadelphia,

Pa., a corporationof Maryland Application November 24, 1941, Serial No.420,311

' extending above the glass edge. This portion of 5Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in sealed ampoules, and moreparticularly to improvements in the type of ampoule described in Patent2,176,004, granted October 10, 1939.

Patent 2,176,004 describes containers for desiccated substances whichare provided with a body portion containing the desiccated substance andwith a flame-sealed neck, within which is positioned a periorablestopper in tight engagement with the neck. When used, the neck of thecontainer is broken oil and a needle is passed through the peri'orablestopper to introduce liquid which dissolves the desiccated substance andto remove the resulting solution for use, e; g., for injection. In thecontainer specifically described in said patent, the stopper is tapered,and is fitted tightly into a correspondingly tapered portion of the neckof the container. tages have been encountered in the usev of thisspecific type of container. 11 the neck is broken oil above the stopper,3. jagged edge is exposed which may cut the hand of the person handlingthe vial. If the neck is broken of! just below the top of the stopper,the stopper is'sometimes removed along with the portion of the neckwhich is broken ofi, withjthe result that air may enter the containerand contaminate the contents. Additionally, it in inserting liquid intothe container through the periorable stopper, pressure above atmosphericis built up within the con- ,tainer, the stopper may be blown out of theneck.

Thev present invention provides an improved container which has theadvantages, for the storage and distribution of substances, particularlydesiccatedsubstances, including desiccated biologicals, of thecontainers described in said patent,

' but is free from the disadvantages to which reference has been made.

The new containers of the invention are provided with a neck, having,usually near the body portion of the container, a circumferentialdepression or groove approximating in shape two conical irustums withthe smaller bases touching and with the diameters of the larger basesusually somewhat smaller than the inner diameter of the neck proper. Inthis portion of the neck is firmly seated a correspondingly shapedperforable stopper, usually rubber, and formed in the shape of twoconical irustums with the smaller bases joined; i. e., an "hourglassshape. The stopper should, of course, be somewhat larger than thecorresponding portion of the neck into which it fits, so that, when inplace, it will be under compression and form a tight seal. Above thestopper the neck of the container is flamesealed, so that the entirecontainer has an alllass seal.

When used, the neck of the container is broken oil at about the midpointof the upper hall of the stopper, leaving a tree portion of the stopperIn practice, certain disadvanthe stopper expands and tends to cover theexposed edge of the broken glass. The breaking of the neck at the properpoint is readily accomplished by a scratch-mark made with a file or thelike in the known way.

The expanded or flared-out lower portion of the stopper prevents thestopper irom being removed along'with the portion of the neck which isbroken oil, and also serves to prevent the stopper from being blown outit the inner portion of the container is placed under pressure and frombeing pulled out upon withdrawing a needle or the like, passed throughthe stopper to introduce liquid to dissolve the desiccated material orto produce a vacuum under which the container is sealed, or for otherpurposes.

,The invention will be further described in connection with the appendeddrawing which illustrates one form 01 the invention.

In the-drawing:

Fig. 1 represents a container containing a desiccated material, forexample, a desiccated biologically active material;

Fig. 2 illustrates a suitable stopper;

Fig. 3 illustrates the container of Fig. 1 with the stopper in place;

Fig. 4 illustrates the container with the glass neck flame-sealed; and

Fig. 5 illustrates the container with the glass neck broken oil! andready for use.

In the drawing, there is shown a container with a neck It which has acircumierentiaily depressed portion I8 having approximately the shape oftwo conical irustums with the small bases in contact, as illustrated. Itis not, of course, necessary that the shape of this circumierentialdepression be geometrically that of portions of cones, as other suitablyshaped depressions which permit the interlock oi the stopper withrespect to motion in either direction and provide the necessary tightengagement of the stopper with the-neck, may be used. The essentialfeature of the arrangement is the hourglass shape, with the smallestlumen in the middle portion of th depression and flaring portions bothupwardly and downwardly therefrom.

The stopper is introduced into the proper position by forcing it intoplace with a suitable plunger. The stopper will ordinarily be made sothat the diameter of its base is slightly less than or the same as theinner diameter of the neck,

so that it can be readily introduced into the neck. The depression orgroove into which it fits will be somewhat smaller, so that, when inplace,

the stopper will be under compression along its entire length. Usually,the stopper will be positioned while the container is maintained under avacuum, for example, by the procedure described in my said patent orapplication, although in many cases it is not necessary that thecontainer be evacuated. It may be sealed in an atmosphere of inert gassuch as nitrogen, or even full of air, it the material within it is notdamaged by air. Even where the final container is to be an evacuatedone, it is not always necessary to insert the stopper while maintaininga vacuum within the container, as the stopper may be seated while thecontainer is under atmospheric or other pressure, and subsequentlyevacuated through a hollow needle forced through the stopper. Uponwithdrawal of the needle, if the stopper is of good quality material,the seal will be suiilcient to maintain the vacuum. After the stopper isinserted as illustrated in Fig. 3 and the desired conditions, i. e.,vacuum, inert atmosphere, etc. produced within the container, the upperportion oi the neck is flamesealed as illustrated in Fig. 4. In somecases, particularly where the body of the container is small, and thematerial within it particularly sensitive, it may be desirable to sealofl the neck while maintaining a reduced pressure within it, asdescribed, for example, in my said Patent 2,198,752.

When the desiccated material is to be restored to a liquid state, theneck is scratched somewhere along the upper half of the stopper, usuallyabout half-way between the small diameter and the top, and the glassneck broken oil. The upper portion of the stopper, under compressionwhen seated in the neck, expands somewhat and helps to cover the Jaggededge of the broken neck. Whether it adequately covers the jag ed edge ornot, the fact that it extends beyond the broken edge affords substantialprotection to the operator handling the container. The flaring lowerportion of the stopper prevents the stopper from being removed alongwith the broken-off neck. The stopper is then pierced by a hollowneedle, such as the needle of a hypodermic syringe and liquid introducedto dissolve the desiccated material, the technique of restoring beingsubstantially that described in Patent 2,176,004. If the container isnot sealed under vacuum, it is usually necessary, when introducing aliquid, to permit some of the gas within the container to escape throughthe needle. This is readily accomplished by introducing a little liquid,permitting some of the gas to escape, introducing more liquid, etc.

I claim:

1. In a package of the type comprising a container having thereinbiologically-active substance or the like which is adapted to be placedin usable condition by the addition of water, which container has a necksealed by a pertorable stopper through which water may be introduced andan extension beyond the neck, the neck being adapted to be brokenopposite the stopper to enable the extension to be removed to provideaccess to the perforable stopper; the improvement which comprises a neckhaving an inwardly-extending portion which assists in retaining thestopper in place in the neck when the extension is removed.

2. In a package of the ype comprising a container having thereinbiologically-active substance cr the like which is adapted to be placedin usable condition by being dissolved in water, which container has aneck sealed by a perforable stopper through which water may beintroduced and a sealed extension beyond the neck, the neck beingadapted to be broken opposite the stopper to enable the extension to beremoved to provide access to the peri'orable stopper; the improvementwhich comprises a neck with which the stopper contacts having anintermediate portion or less inner diameter than parts or the neck atopposite sides thereof, whereby when the extension is removed theportion of theneck of less inner diameter will hold the stopper in theneck.

3. In a package of the type comprising a container having thereinbiologically-active substance or the like which is adapted to be placedin usable condition by being dissolved in water, which container has aneck sealed by a perforable stopper through which water may beintroduced and a sealed extension beyond the neck, the neck beingadapted to be broken opposite the stopper to enable the extension to beremoved to provide access to the periorable stopper; the improvementwhich comprises a neck with which the stopper contacts of the generalshape of two frusta joined at their smaller bases, whereby when the neckis broken adjacent the juncture of the trusta to enable theextension tobe removed to provide access to the perforable stopper, the innerfrustum. will hold the stopper in adapted to be broken opposite thestopper to enable the extension to be removed to provide access to theperforable stopper; the improvement which comprises a neck having aninwardly-extending portion which assists in retaining the stopper inplace in the neck when the extension is removed.

5. In a package of the type comprising a container having thereinbiologically-active substance or the like which is adapted to be placedin usable condition by the addition of water, which container has a necksealed by a perforable stopper through which water may be introduced andan extension beyond the neck, the neck being adapted to be brokenopposite the stopper to enable the extension to be removed to provideaccess to the pertorable stopper; the improvement which comprises a neckhaving an inwardly extending portion which assists in retaining thestopper in place in the neck when the extension is removed, and astopper including an outer portion having an inherent elastic biastightly fitting in said neck under compression, whereby when the neck isbroken opposite the stopper and the extension removed the inherentelastic bias of the outer portion of the stopper will cause that portionof the stopper to expand and at least in part overlie the broken edge ofthe neck.

COURTLAND H. BARR.

